Latest / Auto Collabs / Being Good People In Business with Liza Borches

Transcript

Being Good People In Business with Liza Borches · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  So I learned a really interesting fact about our friend, Michael Cirillo. [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs. And that fact is that his lips have never touched coffee. Not once.
• 0:17
  Unbelievable. Uh, my nostrils have touched the aroma on people's breath. [laughs] That's the worst part. I was, you know- The worst part...
• 0:24
  the, when he started with, "My nostrils have," I was just wondering where that might trail off to. [laughs] It d- it burns my sinuses.
• 0:33
  So, you know, you, you don't know a- about someone until you start to speak with them. And, like, different people make you feel different levels of comfort.
• 0:40
  You're probably wondering how I'm gonna get into today's guest. But today's g- [laughs] I think today's guest will appreciate this intro because she is always down for a conversation.
• 0:52
  She's always ready to have fun, but she means business. We're talking about the one and only Liza Borchers, who is the president and C- is she president and CEO? Yes. Yep. Carter Myers Automotive.
• 1:03
  Um, a good friend of ours, a good friend of the industry, and someone who is always, always, always, always ready to give up her time to help somebody else. That's the first thing I w- I wanted to say.
• 1:13
  Aside from she has substance from experience, she is a servant leader. Through and through.
• 1:20
  Look at what she did through the pandemic, how they quickly snapped into gear, how they repositioned, how they were doing grocery delivery, how they were doing all these sorts of things.
• 1:28
  She has such a kind and giving heart. She, to me, is just a, a per- a, a shining example of servant leadership. And, and sh- just, y- you know, you feel a gravitational pull towards her because of that.
• 1:40
  You know, every con- every conversation that I get to have with her l- all, every time goes toward people. It, it, every single time you're like, "How can the industry approach?"
• 1:52
  And she says, "Let me tell you a story about..." And it's either a story about her people or the customers that they serve. And, and that's just her default n- mode.
• 2:01
  It's not, "Let me tell you about what I think or what should happen or blah, blah, blah." It's like, "Let me, let me explain that with a story because it's happening on the ground every day. I'm involved.
• 2:13
  I'm in the community, in both the community of the dealership and, and where the, the stores that, uh, where those stores that, that she's a part of are."
• 2:21
  And so that, for me, it's a reminder to continue to go back to that- Yeah... in, in all of my conversations. And I mean, you know, how many rooftops are there? 19 now, I think, and counting. 23. 23. It's growing.
• 2:34
  So- There might be more by the time we release this, who knows? [laughs] Right. So obviously, this isn't a Mother Teresa organization. They're- Right... there to make money. Yeah.
• 2:42
  But she's the first person in the industry who's ever talked to me about culture and how it maps back to revenue opportunities the right way. Wow. Yeah. Like the be a good person way.
• 2:53
  She's like, "You wanna know how culture maps?" And she laid it out for me, and I was, I was like, "Yeah. Oh my gosh." Like she sees, she's in the matrix of the car business.
• 3:01
  She sees it at a different level than, um, you know, I think most. Yeah. I th- you know, the way she embraces that strength, like every dealer, we, we see a lot of dealers.
• 3:11
  We get to visit a lot and see behind the curtain of a lot of stores. And you realize that people can be really good at different facets. Some people are great at technology, some people are great at operations.
• 3:20
  You know, some people are great at sales, right- Right... and motivation and inspiration culture, right? Mm-hmm. And they get that all going. Liza's superpower is that she is just great with people, right?
• 3:29
  And that maps back- Mm... like you said, to everything. And I, likewise, have never seen someone who is so good with people who maps it back to an a- like she's a, she's sound when it comes to business.
• 3:43
  She doesn't- Savvy... play. Without a doubt. She's savvy. She asks hard questions. She's always willing to. It was fun when we, when we had her on the stage at Digital Dealer a couple years ago, right?
• 3:51
  And you had like Damon Lester and Brian Benstock and Brian Craig, right? All these big personalities on stage, and there's Liza in her little pink dress, right?
• 3:59
  And she'd, she'd be the first one to say, "Yeah, I don't, I don't really see it that way, and this is why." [laughs] Right? So she's not afraid to, to step in the ring and go toe-to-toe.
• 4:07
  So, um, we're so excited to, if you haven't met her, to introduce you to Liza Borchers. And if you have met her before, I think you're gonna hear a little different angle, a little different insight from this interview.
• 4:16
  So let's get into the interview.
• 4:18
  [upbeat music] The last time I had a chance to chat with you, Liza, was all about culture, and I mean, that was a, the, you know, this, this wave of culture conversations going through the industry, which I think are incredibly valuable, especially for the next generation of, of operators coming up.
• 4:41
  But the question always remained, like, "Can you quantify culture?" And Liza, boys, just so you know, Liza was like, "Hold my, hold my energy drink," or, well, no. "Hold, hold my mineral water."
• 4:54
  [laughs] And she's like, "Here's how it maps," and she laid it all out. My question for you to kick this off, 'cause I know culture is important to you.
• 5:02
  We saw the moves that you made through the pandemic with your, with your group of dealerships, and how you were contributing back to community and to your people. Is that something that you were...
• 5:13
  Like, is that a mindset you were raised with? Is it so- or is it something that you tended to see much more clearly once you really stepped deeply into the operation?
• 5:22
  Um, I think a great answer to that was I originally did not wanna be in the car business or didn't see myself in the car business.
• 5:29
  I watched it from afar growing up, you know, kind of working in and out of the dealership. But I, I always saw it as a very transactional industry.
• 5:38
  And since I'm not a car person, and that wasn't what I loved, like, I just didn't visualize that this would be a place that I would wanna come for a career. What industry did you wanna be in?
• 5:49
  I, I know it's bad form to interrupt you- Such a good question... just as you're starting. But, but you didn't, you knew it wasn't cars, but what, what was it? I do love carsI knew it wasn't cars.
• 5:57
  So I, I was in, uh, the business school at UVA and, um, actually as I got close to graduation, I, I had two mentors in, in business school, and one was my econ professor, who also did investment strategies and a couple other classes with me, and one was my marketing professor, a female, who had really taken me under her wing, uh, in a couple of internships.
• 6:16
  And so there was a little bit of a fight going on between the two of them. One was really pushing me to go to New York and go into investment banking. The other one had me applying for marketing positions.
• 6:26
  I got a, a position with General Mills, like, doing something with cereals. So [laughs] I, it was- They made her dress up as the Lucky Charms leprechaun. [laughs] She was like, "You know the car business, though."
• 6:38
  [laughs] Right. 'Cause then all of a sudden the car business looked more enticing. No. Um, so I, I, I did not wanna live in New York City. Uh, no offense to those, uh, up in that direction. That was certainly not me.
• 6:51
  It's a different thing. And, um, and I happened to be out at NADA that February of my fourth year of college, and I met Dick Culver and Dick Zamborski from American Honda Motor Company. And
• 7:05
  they encouraged me to just come out and apply. They had a, a management trainee program with Honda. It was called- Mm... a national training program.
• 7:13
  And again, I wasn't thinking, uh, cars, but I was like, "You know, living in Southern California could be kinda cool." And- [laughs] All right...
• 7:21
  um, these people that I met through Honda seem like great people, and they shared a little bit with me about the, the three joys of Honda and the culture that, that Honda was built on as a company, and that was, I think, a little bit enticing to me.
• 7:33
  So I ended up applying, and at the last minute making a, a trajectory change and taking this position with American Honda out in California. But I still didn't see myself as going into the retail car business.
• 7:44
  To me, this was still different. This was going for a large global corporation that, um, had a lot more structure, had a stronger foundation than what I saw as transactional in the retail side of our business. Mm.
• 7:58
  So to answer your question, I, I did not intend to come into the car business. I think where that, that switch for me happened was when I was with American Honda and I was out visiting dealers.
• 8:08
  I was calling on dealers all over the country in different ways, and I started seeing that there was more than...
• 8:14
  Not only was there more than one way to run a car dealership or an automotive group, but I started really seeing the difference that those leaders and, and, uh, dealership associates were making in their communities.
• 8:27
  I saw a different side of the business than I had grown up with. Mm. Now, I grew up just seeing my dad working 24/7, some challenging times with our business almost going under, a lot of stress.
• 8:38
  And to- to be honest, he just wasn't around. Yeah. So I just, I, I needed to see a different perspective on the business.
• 8:44
  And, uh, then I got to come home and see it through the lens that my dad was able to share with me more as an adult than versus when I was a kid. Wow.
• 8:53
  You know, you said, so I've never been a Honda dealer, never worked for a Honda store, and, um,
• 9:00
  you know, whe- when I, uh, what was interesting about the way you said, uh, what really attracted me is you said they, they got to share with me the three joys of Honda.
• 9:09
  And, well, one, I'd like to hear what those are because I, you know, I, I know Mazda, I know Nissan, I know a little bit of Kia, and not a lot of other brands that have these deep-seeded values and cor- a- and, and core to their brand.
• 9:22
  Um, so I'd like to, uh, if you remember what they are. [laughs] Oh. [laughs] But- Gosh... so, so may- Joy of selling, joy of buying, and the joy of, it's not producing, but it has something to do with making.
• 9:36
  Um, but it's deeper than that, Kyle. So I do, I- Okay... I would love to share just, like, a 30-second little bit about Honda's culture. Yeah. But one of the best things that they did
• 9:46
  was way after I worked for Honda, once I was on the retail side, they actually created a whole department within Honda that was all about, um, sharing the Honda story and the culture behind it, and they started these what they called Honda Dream trips.
• 10:02
  And they wanted to take the next generation of dealers to Japan and understand the foundation that this company was built on.
• 10:09
  Because really what they wanted was they wanted us to be so engaged in the Honda brand that that was our number one focus, even if we represented 10 other brands. And it was pretty brilliant, I thought, on their part.
• 10:19
  Okay. And f- fo- So I knew this was going somewhere. [laughs] Yeah. They, so they focused on the next generation of dealers.
• 10:25
  Like, I love my dad and his whole crew, but they did- they were not inviting those folks necessarily to go on this trip. They were trying to get us tied into the brand.
• 10:33
  And one of the, my favorite parts of this trip, so we spent, I think, eight days over in Japan, and they took us through the Hall of Shame.
• 10:43
  [laughs] And we went in there, and they had every mistake that Honda had made in producing a vehicle or an engine on display, and they would take- Wow...
• 10:54
  newcomers through there to share with them what they had learned from every mistake that they had made through their journey. Whoa. [snorts] It was awesome. It w- it was, it was amazing to hear the stories behind it.
• 11:07
  And, um, but the whole point of their trip was to really, um, dip us into their culture, understanding the joys of what Honda does, what they've been built on, and that it's more than, than just selling and servicing cars.
• 11:20
  So that was certainly my kind of trip. Can, can I interject this here? Well, I'll be- Because, Liza, you- Yeah, what? [laughs]... you had them, you had them, you had them perfectly right.
• 11:28
  After all these years, I think that's, that, that speaks volumes to the culture that they've established. This is right from hondaresearch.com, but you can also read about it on the global.honda website.
• 11:39
  "The Three Joys outline a trio of essential experiences that any individual can expect to enjoy as a member of the Honda family."
• 11:47
  You said joy of buying, joying, joy of selling, and then you're like, "Something about creation," but it, it's, that's exactly it. It's the joy of- Joy of creating... creating.
• 11:54
  Here's the line, though, that I wanted to hop in here and say, th- because I, I, I don't know if it's this way for all, but it says, "Together they form our spiritual guide and moral compass."
• 12:07
  [laughs] See you guys later. Try the veal. [laughs] That was my first job out of college, was with a company that had a super strong culture and foundation.
• 12:18
  And so I think it gave me a lens to see that the car business was more than about selling and servicing cars.
• 12:24
  Well, I, I, I love it because i- it's, it's like you, you experience this, this culture that's built on values, but then they, they intentionally say, "Hey, we have to tell our story," and not just the story of all of the great accomplishments, but we're looking over here and saying, "Hey, here's the, here's the things that have not worked out well."
• 12:47
  And that's a story that I think a- as I've gotten to known you, know you, that you're telling every new employee and every current employee that walks through your door.
• 12:59
  And you're not just doing that, uh, with, with current employees, you're doing that to the, for the industry.
• 13:04
  And so one, I just wanna say thank you for that because I, like, I recognize that you have a care, a particular care both for your, your team and your, your dealerships, but also a care for our industry.
• 13:16
  Um, but I'd love to hear kind of how you take some of the insights that you've learned, especially from, you know, OEMs that a lot of people, at least these days, kind of look at the OEM and with a little bit of a stink eye, right?
• 13:29
  But there's so much to be gained from the work that they've done, and particularly c- companies like Honda, that we can draw from the insights of, like, the, the corporation side and bring into the dealership or dealer group that you're doing, um, with new employees and sharing the story.
• 13:45
  So can you share a little bit about what that looks like for a new employee or current employee at CMA to understand the story, um, of not just, you know, CMA, but also broader retail?
• 13:56
  I will, but I'm also gonna give one other comment about an OEM, 'cause you said so often we, there's tension between the retail side of the business and the OEMs.
• 14:05
  But there was a, a very small quote that Tom Dahl shared at the Subaru meeting a couple weeks ago, and he said, "We don't wanna just be good business people. We wanna be good people in business." Mm.
• 14:16
  And I think at CMA, that's something that we've always focused on. Mm. And not just being, but creating. We don't wanna just create and pour into and invest in our team to be good businesspeople.
• 14:27
  We also wanna help them be good people in business.
• 14:30
  And I think that reflects, uh, back to even the first, you know, time they come to our new hire orientation in, in encouraging our team to bring their whole self to work, not just their work self, and how do we help them grow both personally and professionally, that it has to be investing in them as a human being and not just an, as a, an, a team member of CMA.
• 14:54
  So the rest of this week, I'm going to be in a new hire orientation tomorrow in Richmond, and then I'm gonna be in orientation meetings Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday all day in Lynchburg for our- Whoa...
• 15:04
  three new stores. And so it was a timely question that you asked, because I'm gonna be sharing the CMA story over and over again this entire week, um, to new, our existing stores and to new stores.
• 15:16
  So we share first about the history of the company, and I have my dad come to each of the n- the orientations, and he takes about an hour and fits 98 years of stories [laughs] of our company into an hour.
• 15:27
  [laughs] But a lot of those we talk about are not just the wins and the growth that we've had, but, you know, where was the adversity that we've learned from? Because I can guarantee in 98 years there's been a lot of it.
• 15:38
  Seriously. He even shares that prior to when we were Petersburg Motor Company, uh, we went through the Spanish flu back in 1918 when we were still a hardware store selling vehicles out of the front. Goodness.
• 15:48
  So, you know- Wow... we have a pandemic that we learned from back in 1918, so. [laughs] Wow. So we're, we talk about the good and the bad of the 98 years. Um, and then we give them a, a current state of the union.
• 16:01
  Where is CMA today? What does our organization look like? And then that leads into our mission, vision, values. Um, and I share with them, you know, I can in 30 minutes talk to you all about this in the meeting.
• 16:13
  But what I really encourage them to do is to leave the orientation and, and identify times throughout their day, their week, and their month where they see our, our mission and especially our values in action.
• 16:28
  And, and recognize that we can write them on the wall, but that doesn't mean anything. It means, it only means something when it lives in the hearts of our associates.
• 16:36
  So we go pretty deep into mission, vision, values during the orientation. And then I share with them our three-year strategic plan. And because we're an ESOP, they, they see all of our financials.
• 16:46
  They might be a week with our company, and they get a financial statement broken down by dealership.
• 16:51
  They see our last 11 years of profits, they see our plan for the next five years, and they see our current, uh, state of profits this year- Wow... versus last year. Let- And then at the end though,
• 17:01
  there are two things that we, we talk to them about. You know, we, we share all these great things about the company in two hours, but we tell them it's not a company for anyone on cruise control.
• 17:11
  When you're an owner of the company, the peers sitting next to you expect a lot from you. You can't be here just for it to be a job.
• 17:18
  And as you guys know, we, you know, when we talk about, um, what our mission is and we say to move lives forward for our associates, our customers, and our community, it's more than just a job.
• 17:28
  When you join CMA, you become a part of the community. It's a career. We expect you to know our story, share our story, be proud of the company and community that you're a part of.
• 17:38
  And honestly, at the end of the orientation, if, if this isn't a place for you and you just wanna come to work 9:00 to 5:00 and shut the door and forget about it when you get home, CMA may not be the right place for you, and that's okay too.
• 17:50
  So do you intentionally build a brick wall at the exit door so people can run through it? Is that what the...
• 17:57
  [laughs] You know, we do share with them that at Zappos, at the end of their orientation, they offer associates $2,000 to leave. Yep. Wow. And we always start with, "Well, at Zappos, they do this."
• 18:08
  We're like, "Actually, we're not gonna give you $2,000, but we do expect you to be, um, inspired and engaged in the message that we just shared.
• 18:17
  And, and if it's not for you, we understand y- and we will applaud you from afar to, to find a home elsewhere."
• 18:24
  But if you're gonna stay, we want you all in.You, you mentioned that, I'm gonna tie this back to something you said at the beginning of the interview.
• 18:31
  You, you said that, "That wasn't the car business that I experienced," which is why you were looking for an industry outside of automotive. Now, you obviously went around the bout, right?
• 18:43
  You worked with Honda, you came back into the family business to then take the lead in the family business. Um, what did... There are a lot of legacy auto groups, right? A lot of legacy generational dealers.
• 18:56
  And, you know, probably a lot of different perspectives on how a dealership should be run as the generations go, but there's also this level of respect that everyone seems to have for the people that built what it is that they're now taking ownership of.
• 19:09
  So my, my question is, how did you transition or reframe the heart and soul of CMA when you came back into it with this desire, with this experience at Honda to, to really put culture at the forefront?
• 19:25
  Was it already there, you just didn't see it, or did you see avenues to, like, transition it? I'd love to hear about how, how that happened.
• 19:32
  Well, I'm gonna say something and it's gonna sound a little odd, 'cause I, I don't like talking about myself in this way. But my dad shares this in the, in the orientation. He says, "You know,
• 19:42
  my grandfather," his dad, "really brought a level of fiscal conserv- uh, fiscal responsibility to our company, and set us up in the right way early on to make sure that, that we had strong financials for growth."
• 19:56
  My dad came in and, and really, um, had more of an aggressive nature, uh, to, to figure out how c- he could scale the company, and through structure and process.
• 20:06
  And he always shares in the orientation, he said, "That I came in and I put the soul in the company." Mm. Mm-hmm.
• 20:11
  And I'm very humbled every time that he says that, because I think each generation of our company brought something new and different, the next layer that it took to grow CMA.
• 20:23
  And, um, so I think your question was, how did I... What happened when I came in? How did I transition the company to what it is now? And I certainly didn't do it all at once.
• 20:34
  I came in and had one little dealership, and I, in some ways, needed to test out my theories and the way that I wanted to do business in a very controllable environment.
• 20:44
  And I just didn't- And how long ago, about, was that? Huh? About how long ago, about how long ago was that? 2004. Okay. Uh, I came back in '03 and bought that little store in February of '04. Gotcha.
• 20:53
  And, um, I didn't know what I didn't know, so I didn't know how to run a dealership either. So it was good for a lot of reasons that I went into this small store, and I had 13 employees to start on day one, and- Wow...
• 21:03
  they were selling, like, five cars a month when we bought it. [laughs] Um, so it was very easy for, for me to get my arms around.
• 21:10
  And really easy to be able to know every associate, and know their family, and know every customer that came in that door. It was an environment that allowed me to figure out what it meant to put people first. Mm.
• 21:22
  What it meant to have a relationship-based business. And I saw it, uh, work well beyond what I could have even envisioned in that small store.
• 21:32
  But the biggest question was, can you take that and scale it beyond a store where I could know everybody? Right, right, right. And, and we've done that.
• 21:41
  I haven't done it alone, but I have found other people that had the same vision and the same beliefs that I did, that wanted to do that in their own stores, and we could partner together and figure out how to scale, um, the way that we wanted to do business.
• 21:56
  And- What was the-... that's worked... what was the first, what was the first thing, if you can remember it, the first instinct when you realized, or memory you have when you realized it just transcended you?
• 22:10
  I think, um, it was probably when we purchased the Stanton stores, because that... Let's see, that was 2010.
• 22:21
  I really just focused on the Volvo store from '04 to about '09, as we tried to figure out what was happening in that major recession time. Mm.
• 22:30
  And it was when we brought in the Stanton stores at the same time we were transitioning leadership in Richmond. So Scott Simons joined our group in Stanton.
• 22:40
  We transitioned away from two other general managers in our company who did not see eye to eye with me. One was in, in one of our Richmond stores, and one was in our Charlottesville store.
• 22:50
  And from 2010 to 2011, we brought in Scott, we promoted Ed Nickel, and we brought in a new general manager in Charlottesville.
• 22:58
  And it wasn't that the previous team didn't work, but I don't think they understood the direction of the company we wanted to take.
• 23:06
  In, in fact, actually, the, the gentleman in Charlottesville said blatantly in front of me, my dad and I are sitting in the room, and he said, "I'll never work for a woman." It's like, well- Oh. [laughs]...
• 23:15
  that made it clear that we were gonna have to move on. [laughs] Well, that makes this conversation way easier, thank you. [laughs] Did you have a Polaroid camera and take a picture of your dad's face?
• 23:24
  I would love that photo- [laughs] Yeah... once he heard this. My dad was very, just, he just said, "Uh, okay, well, we'll work through this." And I said, "I don't think we're gonna work through this."
• 23:34
  [laughs] You're like, "Well, there's this one thing. There's this one thing about what he said." [laughs] Right. One thing that was an issue.
• 23:42
  So, uh, that was the transitional moment, where we brought in three new leaders who understood that the company was gonna start pivoting in a new direction.
• 23:51
  We were gonna build on what we had had in place at that point for, what was it? 80 some years. Um, but that there was an, a new, a new focus for the future.
• 24:02
  And, and Scott obviously has continued to be such a strong partner. Ed Nickel has been a such strong partner. He's now opened five stores in the Richmond market. Wow.
• 24:09
  And we've certainly brought in more leaders since then that, um, from day one, in the interview process, and even before the interview process, the relationships we had with them before they even joined CMA, or as they grew from internally with CMA, um, have, have helped transcend it well beyond me, Paul.Gee whiz.
• 24:28
  So what you're saying is if you really pay attention and you really work hard, you can have this too in just a shade under two decades. Sure. [laughs] And you know what I keep- I, I, I love that because-... or-...
• 24:42
  a lot of people would be like, "Ah" I don't know, I heard nine decades. [laughs] Yeah. Right, right. It's really nine decades. I'm talking about the... Yes, for sure. Because you did.
• 24:48
  You built on the, the legacy of your grandfather and father, right? That, that they had to put in place structures and systems in order for you to operate in the s- and, and push in the soul of what you were able to do.
• 25:02
  Absolutely. 'Cause had that not been there, you would've been starting from scratch. And, and there were things that- Yeah, it's hard to focus on- Yeah...
• 25:07
  it's hard to focus on culture when, like, you know, everything else that, like, re- really- Yeah... minute by minute, the business requires to stay in business, right? Back to- Absolutely... Dave Meltzer.
• 25:18
  "The first rule of business is stay in business." [laughs] You know, I, what I was just thinking is, um, you all were laughing.
• 25:25
  There was another pivotable point that happened just a handful of years ago, and that was the fact that we started having dealer groups calling us to purchase them because they felt that their team and the culture of their group was a good fit for what we were trying to accomplish.
• 25:43
  Wow. Wow. So now instead of having to go build new teams and bring in new people, we had people kind of watching the store from the outside saying, "That kind of aligns with us. We need to join forces."
• 25:57
  And so, I mean, every acquisition that we've had in the last, um, five or six years have all been people contacting me saying, "I think we'd be a good fit for CMA. We're looking for an exit strategy."
• 26:12
  So I think that was the second pivotable point. Th- this is why every time I see a LinkedIn post that says, "Can culture scale? Can you quantify it?" Uh, I don't know. Enter Liza with- [laughs]... what you just said.
• 26:24
  I mean, like, come on, guys. Can't culture scale? Th- that's why you do this. Something that I, I just wanna... I don't know the right word. It's, um, I'm gonna use pricked my heart as I've been listening to you speak,
• 26:40
  because I'm in a family business. And some- a- as I've been listening to you talk about this and the, and to kinda, you know, go off of what Kyle was saying, you know, just layering in
• 26:51
  new generation of the business, it's, it's been interesting because you... I, I think anybody that's in a family business sometimes feels like, "Am I contributing? Am I growing it? It, was it all them?
• 27:04
  Was it all the past generation?" And so on and so forth. And the way that you phrased that was very heartwarming and very validating because it's like, you know, it's never to discredit that previous generation. Right.
• 27:15
  But I could really sense the gratitude in your tone, speaking about how your father and grandfather had brought in what they could bring in. And now that it's you, how you've now ushered in that next phase of growth.
• 27:30
  I just, I don't know. I, I felt that very heartwarming. And it, and it also ties into the fact that, like, come on, guys. This, the, the auto industry, it's a family business.
• 27:38
  Like, this is a big family, but it's also, like, this is a place that families can do business together, I think is so tremendous. Mm.
• 27:45
  Well, I think there's a lot of fear when you're a generational business of, "Am I gonna live up to what my father or mother was able to accomplish?
• 27:55
  Am I gonna live up to the standards they've set, the expectations that they have beyond them?" And I think one of the most important lessons that I learned was it's not about
• 28:07
  can I meet their expectations or live to their standards, it's how can I add to it? And not to be- Mm...
• 28:13
  and to be not afraid to be yourself and bring your own ideas, that that is going to be the biggest benefit you can bring to a generational business, is to bring a new perspective, a new lens, and combine that and integrate with what has already been there, as you said.
• 28:29
  Well, Liza, it has been so good to spend a few minutes with you, as always.
• 28:33
  And every time, right, you always learn a little bit more and see behind the curtain just a little bit more, and I definitely learned a few things about- Yeah... your journey.
• 28:41
  And I know it's gonna be helpful because there are so many people in automotive that ha- really are required to take the torch and run with it another mile and another mile and another mile.
• 28:51
  So thanks for being transparent, and as always, uh, just being open-handed and serving the industry. Well, thank you, guys. I don't know how that time just flew by [laughs] so fast. I could do this for another hour.
• 29:02
  It was awesome. [laughs] Well, we'll see you at ASOTU CON and we'll get to do it for another hour. Yeah. Sounds wonderful. [laughs] Can't wait. Talk to you, talk to you soon.
• 29:10
  [upbeat music] This is a very, very small portion of what she said here.
• 29:19
  And I know that CMA is an ESOP, but the fact that a brand-new employee, within their first five days of entering CMA,
• 29:31
  gets a financial statement reviewing their prior 11 years and financial plans for the next five- Boom... is staggering to me. [laughs] That...
• 29:42
  Well, one, how many people have, in one place, their 11 years of financials and- That's what I was just gonna say... projections for the next five? [laughs] Who's even got that- Start with that level of-...
• 29:52
  for the executive team? [laughs]...
• 29:52
  business attenuation, and then have the competence and clarity to be able to pass that on to y- to n- new team members in a way that se- like, allows them to peer behind the curtain but still have energy to move forward.
• 30:07
  Right, like gives them the appropriate context for it. Right. But also in a way that they're not like, "Holy crap, they're making so much money. How come I'm only getting paid X?" Right? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 30:18
  'Cause we all know that's a thing, right? They say it just like that every time. Yeah, just like that. [laughs] With, and they're holding a slice of pizza, folded.
• 30:26
  We need, we need a f- Well, I think it comes- We need a female voice do, "How come I ne-" Right? It's g- like, from Greece. [laughs] Right?
• 30:32
  "Give me a hun-"Oh, I thought that was our cute- that was, uh, Edith Bunker Oh, Edith. [laughs] Edith Bunker. There you go. You can't talk about the Bunker family anymore. They're out. Oh, crap. Canceled.
• 30:42
  Maybe in Canada you're good. Well, it's all because, it's all because it starts, it's the contextualization from the, from the story. And I think that it's similar to the Honda story.
• 30:52
  If, if you went in as a Honda dealer or, or, or anything like that to that eight-day trip, not believing in Honda, not knowing the full story, and all you...
• 31:01
  They just took you right to the Honda wall of shame, and you would be, at the end of that, you'd be like, "This is just terrible. These people always mess up." Made the wrong career decision, [laughs] right? Yeah. Right.
• 31:11
  You know? So it's the context of the whole story, and I think that that's something that, that when we talk about culture,
• 31:19
  you know, a lot of people talk about culture as this very ethereal kind of thing that maybe leadership, maybe management, maybe it's the people.
• 31:29
  And I think that there's something to be said about story having a real impact on culture. And if you know the story, then there- there's a walk or, or there's a step into culture that's a lot more clear.
• 31:43
  And I think that's a piece of culture that we haven't explored in a lot of business conversations, of how story, uh, br- you know, pulls forward into culture a lot, a lot more clearly.
• 31:53
  Not only that, she said that she wanted to prove out her thesis with her store starting in '04, worked through it all the way to '09.
• 32:03
  Dude, we can't break most dealers or business owners, for that matter, out of a 30-day cycle. Mm. Like, she put in the work. So, so, which only further adds to the story, right? Yeah. There's no substitute.
• 32:17
  I mean, when you, when you talk to somebody like Liza, you realize there's no substitute for, like, a consistent execution over a long period of time, and the expectation and understanding going into it that this isn't going to be done in a day.
• 32:33
  This isn't going to be easy, but this is going to be worth it, which is why she's such an example for so many of us. We hope you enjoyed this interview.
• 32:41
  We hope you get to meet Liza someday in person, if you haven't already, because we can all attest to the fact that she's 10 times better in person than she is on a Zoom call and a podcast interview.
• 32:52
  So, uh, hope you enjoyed it. On behalf of Michael Cirillo, the one and only Kyle Mounts here, and myself, thanks for listening to Auto Collapse.
• 33:00
  Sign up for our free and fun-to-read daily email for a free shot of relevant news in automotive, retail, media, and pop culture. You can get it now at asotu.com. That's A-S-O-T-U dot com.
• 33:12
  If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
• 33:21
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collapse. Welcome to Auto Collapse. [laughs] Why are we recording? Are we rolling yet? Not yet.